The Mandie Collection (7 page)

“Yes, and one day it will be so full it won’t hold anything else. Then I suppose someone will have to clean it out,” Mandie added. “I’m glad it won’t be us having to do all the work. We’ll be graduating next May.”

“Yes, and going into some other place that might just have an attic,” Celia reminded her.

“I don’t think colleges have attics,” Joe said. “At least the one I go to in New Orleans doesn’t.”

“That might be a good reason to go to your college,” Mandie said with a laugh as they got down to the hallway.

“We’re certainly going to have to make our minds up about that,” Celia said. “We can’t wait till the last minute to enroll in a college.”

“I know,” Mandie answered. “I’ll decide soon when I have time to think about it.”

When they got to the parlor, Aunt Phoebe was just bringing in the tea cart with the coffee and cake.

“Ah, we made it in time,” Jonathan said with a sigh of relief as he sat down.

Aunt Phoebe went over to serve the adults as the young people sat down in chairs nearby and watched.

Suddenly Mandie remembered Snowball. Where had he gone? She quickly looked around the room. “Oh no, Snowball is missing,” she whispered to her friends. “I forgot all about him when he left the attic.”

Aunt Phoebe heard the remark as she came on over to serve the young people.

“Don’t you worry about that cat,” she said with a big smile. “He done found his way to the kitchen, like usual, and he’s eating leftovers.”

Mandie blew out her breath and said with a big smile, “Oh, thank you, Aunt Phoebe.”

“Yes, we all thank you, Aunt Phoebe,” Celia added. “Otherwise we would have to go on a search for him.”

“I’ll keep him in there till y’all git ready to leave,” the old woman promised.

“Thank you” came from all four.

They listened to the adults’ conversation.

“I’ll be going back to see the preacher tomorrow morning and will let you know what he has to say,” Mrs. Taft was saying as she sipped her coffee. “I do hope he knows something. I believe you had told us you have not been to church since Miss Hope disappeared and therefore you have not seen the preacher.”

“That’s right,” Miss Prudence said. “And if I learn any news I will certainly let you know.”

Turning to Uncle Ned, Mrs. Taft asked, “And when do you think you will be seeing your young Indian friends who are searching?”

“Any time now,” Uncle Ned said. “Will let me know if they get any news.”

“I have some friends who are government investigators who would be glad to help us search, I’m sure,” Senator Morton suggested.

Miss Prudence immediately became flustered and set down her cup of coffee. “Oh, not government investigators, Senator, we don’t need them, thank you.”

“I was only making a suggestion, Miss Prudence,” he replied. “But it seems to me if we are ever going to find Miss Hope, we need some experienced people to come in and help.”

“No, no, thank you, Senator,” Miss Prudence said, nervously pushing at a loose strand of hair. “I’m sure we’ll find my sister.”

Mrs. Taft looked up as the clock in the hallway struck nine. “Oh dear, I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said. “We must be getting home.” She quickly stood up. “We’ll be in touch tomorrow, Miss Prudence.”

“Thank you for your help and for coming tonight,” Miss Prudence said as everyone else rose to leave the room.

The four young people hurried out ahead of the others and waited outside the front door.

“Oh goodness, I forgot Snowball again. I’ll be right back,” Mandie said as she rushed back inside the house.

Hurrying to the kitchen, she scooped up the white cat and went to join her friends, who were piling into the rig behind Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton, and Uncle Ned.

“I’m glad you didn’t completely forget that cat or we would have had to come all the way back for him,” Jonathan told her teasingly.

Mandie’s hand felt the paper in her pocket as she held on to Snowball when Ben drove the rig out into the street.

“I have one of those papers in my pocket,” she whispered to her friends.

“Why?” Joe asked.

“It got separated from the others at the last minute, so I just picked it up and stuffed it into my pocket,” Mandie explained. “It probably isn’t anything worth bringing back tomorrow, or whenever we visit Miss Prudence again.”

“Just throw it away, then,” Jonathan told her.

“Be sure you look at it first. It could be something important,” Joe said.

“I will,” Mandie promised.

But as it turned out, when Mandie and Celia went to their room for the night, Mandie had forgotten all about the paper and slipped off her skirt and hung it up.

That night she dreamed about the paper.

Papers were falling everywhere. Mandie couldn’t see through the thick whirlwind. She couldn’t outrun it. And somehow she had to escape. She couldn’t breathe, and she was shivering cold. Someone was calling her name.

“Mandie, wake up, Mandie, wake up,” someone was saying as the person shook her.

With all the strength she could muster, Mandie took a deep breath and forced her eyes open.

“Mandie, you must have been having a bad dream.” It was Celia, sitting on the side of the bed.

“Oh, it was a terrible dream,” Mandie replied, rubbing her eyes and taking deep breaths as she stretched her legs. “All that paper was falling on me.” She sat up suddenly and jumped out of bed. “Where is that paper I put in my pocket, the one that fell out of all that paper in the school’s attic?” She raced over to the wardrobe, jerked down the skirt she had been wearing, and jammed her hand into the pocket. It was empty.

“Mandie, did you leave it in your pocket?” Celia asked.

“Yes, I know I did. I undressed and hung up my skirt and went to bed,” Mandie replied. “What happened to it?” She frowned and looked around the room.

“This is really strange,” Celia said. “Someone must have been in our room last night. Oh, Mandie, I wonder who it was.”

“But no one knew I put that paper in my pocket but you and Joe and Jonathan, and I don’t think they would come into our room looking for it. Besides, I didn’t even read it, so we don’t know what it was,” Mandie said, sitting on the side of the bed, holding her skirt.

“You’re right. It’s a real puzzle,” Celia agreed, sitting next to her on the bed.

Mandie looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was five minutes before seven. “We need to get dressed anyway. It’ll soon be time for breakfast, at eight o’clock,” she said, going back to the wardrobe to get down clothes to put on. She rehung the skirt.

Celia came over and got her things out of the wardrobe. “Joe and Jonathan might already be up,” she said, quickly pulling on a green skirt.

“Yes,” Mandie agreed as she slipped into her clothes. She looked around. “Where is Snowball?” She walked around the room looking for him.

“I don’t know, Mandie,” Celia said, buttoning her blouse. “I don’t remember seeing him when I woke up.”

Mandie looked at the door. “The door is closed. So someone had to let him out,” she decided. “And whoever let him out must be the person who took the paper out of my skirt pocket.”

“Let’s hurry and see if Joe and Jonathan are in the hall,” Celia said, quickly brushing her long auburn hair and tying it back with a green ribbon.

Mandie shook out her long skirt and started for the door. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s find them.”

They found the boys sitting on chairs at the top of the main staircase, which was their usual meeting place in whatever house they happened to be in. The girls sat down nearby.

“I figured y’all would have been up before now,” Joe said. “We even went down to the parlor looking for y’all.”

“And we didn’t see a single soul,” Jonathan added. “I don’t believe anyone is up yet.”

“Have y’all seen Snowball? He got out of our room before we got up,” Mandie asked.

Both boys shook their heads.

“Our door was closed when we got up, but he was gone, so someone had to have been in our room,” Mandie explained. “And you know that paper I picked up from the floor in the attic and put in my pocket? It is also gone.”

“No,” Jonathan said. “Did someone take it?”

“Somebody’s bound to have taken it, because it’s gone,” Mandie replied.

“So now we have another mystery,” Joe said, smiling at her.

“We’ve been sitting here wondering whether we were supposed to go over to that school and find Robert this morning,” Jonathan reminded her.

“Oh goodness, we never got that resolved, did we?” Mandie said, frowning. “Well, it’s too late to go right now. Grandmother will be down for breakfast at eight.”

“We don’t have to go with your grandmother wherever she is going today, do we?” Jonathan asked.

“No, I don’t suppose so, but if she asks us to go and we refuse, she will want an explanation as to why we aren’t going with her,” Mandie said.

“And it had better be a good one,” Joe added.

“She said she was going to try and catch the preacher the first thing this morning, remember?” Celia said.

“I would say she means right after breakfast. But if she doesn’t ask, then we won’t ask to go with her,” Mandie explained. “But I still think I could ask Uncle Ned to go over to Mr. Chadwick’s School and find out whether Robert has returned.”

“Maybe she won’t ask us to go with her when she goes back to the preacher’s house,” Jonathan said.

“And if she doesn’t, then we won’t ask to go with her,” Mandie said. She stood up and added, “Now I need to find out where Snowball is. And then I may be able to find out who let him out of our room. Let’s go down to the kitchen. He likes kitchens because that’s where the food is.”

They didn’t see anyone on their way to the kitchen, and when they pushed the door open they found Ben drinking coffee at the table by the window and Annie getting dishes down from the cupboard.

“Good morning,” Mandie greeted them. “I’m looking for Snowball. Have y’all seen him?”

“Why, he’s right there gobbling up dat food I give him,” Annie said, pointing to the white cat who was eating from a saucer by the stove.

“Well, at least he isn’t lost,” Mandie said. “But how did he get down here? He was gone when we got up.”

“Li’l bit ago I hears him meowing. I opens de door and he’s right there in de hall,” Annie explained. She took dishes over to the long table. “Now, does y’all be wantin’ coffee or something?”

Mandie looked over at Ben and asked, “Do you mind if we sit at the table with you and have a cup of coffee?”

“Course not, missy,” Ben replied. “Jes’ come on over here. Annie will git y’all some coffee.”

Mandie and her friends sat down at the table, and Annie placed cups of hot coffee in front of them.

Looking up at Annie, Mandie asked, “Have you been upstairs this morning, Annie?”

“Upstairs, no, not yet. After everybody gits downstairs for de day I has to make all de beds and so forths up there,” Annie replied, returning the percolator to the stove.

“Is Ella up and around yet?” Mandie asked, sipping her coffee and watching for Annie’s response.

“No, but ’bout time fo’ her to come in here,” Annie replied. “Now, dat new girl, Dobie, she done come to work.”

“New girl? There’s a new girl working here?” Mandie asked.

“She works for Miz Manning, you know, whut has Hilda stayin’ wid dem, and Miz Taft, she made arrangements fo’ Dobie to partly work here, too, ’cause Miz Manning she don’t need her all de time,” Annie explained.

“What does she do here for Grandmother?” Mandie asked. She glanced at her friends, who were listening and nodded at her.

“She mostly do whut Ella tell her to do, wash clothes and such,” Annie replied.

Celia looked at Mandie and smiled, then asked Annie, “Has she been working upstairs this morning?”

“I don’t keep up wid her. That Ella’s job,” Annie said.

Jonathan whispered to Mandie, “So you think that’s who came into your room?”

Mandie nodded and did not reply because at that moment, Uncle Ned came into the kitchen and joined them at the table for a cup of coffee.

“Are you going with Grandmother to try to catch the preacher today?” Mandie asked.

“Maybe,” the old man replied. “Need to see braves today.”

“Are you going to be checking with any of the stores downtown today to find out if they’ve seen Miss Hope?” Joe asked.

“Maybe,” Uncle Ned replied, sipping his coffee. “We make plans at breakfast table.”

Mandie thought about asking him to go by Mr. Chadwick’s School to see if Robert had returned to school. Then she decided he probably wouldn’t have time. Maybe she and her friends could get out of going with her grandmother today. Then Joe and Jonathan could rush over to Mr. Chadwick’s School.

Mandie was also wondering what the new maid, Dobie, had been doing when she came into their room. It had to have been her. And how did the girl know that paper was in Mandie’s skirt pocket? And most of all, what was on that paper that made someone take it? And then she frowned as she tried to figure out how that girl knew which room was hers and Celia’s. She must have come to work awfully early to have done this, too.

She was anxious to see the girl and ask her questions, but that would have to wait until after breakfast.

Uncle Ned soon finished his cup of coffee and rose, saying, “I go walk before breakfast.” He started toward the back door.

Mandie quickly stood up, looked at her friends, and said, “I think I’d like to walk a little myself. What about y’all?”

“Come,” the old man told them and continued on his way out the door. All four young people followed him.

Since Mrs. Taft lived in downtown Asheville, there was no big field or woods to walk in, but there was a small park a few blocks away. That’s where Uncle Ned led them. Mandie walked by his side but didn’t try to carry on a conversation until everyone had sat down on the grassy bank of the small creek that ran through the park.

“If Grandmother doesn’t ask us to go with her today, do you think we could go with you, wherever you are planning?” Mandie asked, looking up into the kind black eyes as the old man smiled at her.

“You leave Grandmother to go alone searching for Miss Hope?” he asked.

“But that’s up to her. She may not want us to go with her,” Mandie replied. “Besides, she won’t be alone. Ben will drive her wherever she wants to go.”

“Why not want to go with Grandmother?” Uncle Ned asked. He looked at Mandie’s friends, also.

Mandie drew a deep breath, looked at Celia, then Joe, then Jonathan, and then said, “We would like for you to do us a favor, please, Uncle Ned. Joe and Jonathan could probably do it, but I’d rather you did it because you know how to do things like this.”

Uncle Ned shook his head and said, “What Papoose talking about? Do what? Not understand.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said with a big smile. “It’s just that we would like to know if Robert has come back to school yet. We’d like to talk to him about something. And I thought since you know where Mr. Chadwick’s School is, you might be going that way and could stop and ask for Robert.”

Uncle Ned watched her closely and said, “Robert still at Tommy’s house in Charleston where we left him. Not time for school to start yet.”

“Yes, sir, I know we left him at Tommy’s house, but I thought he might have come back to school early to take some of those extra lessons Mr. Chadwick gives sometimes in the summertime,” Mandie explained. “And there is something I would like to ask him.”

“Papoose not planning trouble?” the old man asked.

Mandie laughed and said, “No, sir, not trouble.”

Uncle Ned stood up and the young people scrambled to their feet. “We return now. Breakfast, then Grandmother make plans, then we decide,” he said.

“Thank you, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said, quickly following by his side. Her friends stayed close behind them as they returned to Mrs. Taft’s house.

They found Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton in the parlor.

“We’ve been out for a walk with Uncle Ned,” Mandie said as everyone found seats.

“We need to hurry through breakfast so we can try to catch the preacher before he gets out for the day,” Mrs. Taft told her.

Mandie looked at her friends. So they were expected to go with Mrs. Taft.

“I need see braves,” Uncle Ned told her as he sat near the senator.

“That’s fine, Uncle Ned. Senator Morton is feeling better today and will go with us,” Mrs. Taft replied.

“Yes, indeed,” Senator Morton said. “Much better than yesterday.”

“But you also want me and my friends to go, too?” Mandie asked as she glanced at Joe, Jonathan, and Celia.

“Yes, Amanda, rather than leave y’all here to do goodness knows what,” Mrs. Taft replied with a smile.

When Mandie didn’t reply to that, Mrs. Taft asked, “Do you not want to go? I thought you came home with me in order to help find Miss Hope.”

Mandie quickly replied to that. “Oh yes, ma’am, I do want to help find Miss Hope. And I hope we will find her soon.”

“Well, then, we will go to see the preacher and then we will probably visit some of the stores downtown to make inquiries.” She turned to Uncle Ned and asked, “And will you be gone all day? Or will you join us later?”

“Do not know how long to catch braves,” Uncle Ned replied. “But soon as I do I will let you know.”

“Then it’s all settled. We will have breakfast and then Senator Morton and I will take you young people with us to see the preacher,” Mrs. Taft said. “And I do hope he is home this time.”

Mandie was disappointed as she looked at her friends. There was no way they could get away from her grandmother today. Joe shrugged his shoulders as he looked at her. Jonathan grinned, and Celia blew out her breath and squirmed in her chair. Mandie could tell they were all disappointed.

Ella came to tell Mrs. Taft that breakfast was ready, and they all went into the dining room to eat.

Mandie kept watching for the new girl who had come to work for Mrs. Taft, but there was no sign of her. Ella and Annie served breakfast.

When the adults became engrossed in their own conversation, Mandie whispered to her friends, “I’d like to at least see that new girl before we leave for the day. She might not be here when we come back if she’s not working full time.” She took a sip of her coffee.

“She’s probably doing housework in the bedrooms,” Celia suggested, quickly taking a bite of the bacon on her plate.

Joe began eating the grits he had taken from the bowl that was passed around. Jonathan looked at him and said, “Grits. How can you people eat such stuff?” He grinned at Mandie.

“We can eat it because we are not Yankees like you,” Mandie replied with a big grin. “You should at least taste the grits. You would probably like them.”

Instead of replying to that remark, Jonathan asked, “Will Uncle Ned go to Robert’s school?”